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Chinese Book on Political Reform Stirs Hopes for More Debate

The publication this month of a path-breaking book on political reform is stirring excitement among liberal intellectuals here, who hope that it will encourage more open debate about the rule of law, freedom of information and the role of the Communist Party.

The book, ''Political China: Facing the Era of Choosing a New Structure'' (China Today Publishing House), brings together 39 recently published essays by 32 scholars, journalists, former Government officials who were dismissed for their democratic sympathies, and even an adviser to President Jiang Zemin.

''This is the most comprehensive book devoted to political reform to be published in China since 1989,'' said one of the authors, Li Shuguang, a law professor at the University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. While there was a brief flowering of debate on political change in the late 1980's, it was abruptly halted when troops smashed the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989.

All the book's essays appeared previously in journals and newspapers. Scholars say they have felt a bit more free recently to discuss the political system so long as they do not challenge the Communist Party's primacy.

The essays represent a range of views on how deeply the system must change. But together, they capture the discussions among more liberal thinkers who have begun to voice sharp questions about a system that even party leaders concede is riddled with corruption.

Yet the book also reveals just how narrow the boundaries of permissible discourse here remain. Not a single author dares to bring up multiparty politics, or to call for the direct public election of national leaders.

In the book's preface, Jiang Ping, who was forced from the presidency of the University of Political Science and Law in 1989 because he failed to toe the party line about the crushed student movement, writes: ''Discussing political structural reform is not just an armchair strategy, but will build up psychological anticipation for the reform in society.''

Surprisingly, the book was edited by two men with high-level jobs in major official newspapers: Dong Yuyu, a senior editor of Guangming Daily, and Shi Binghai, a senior editor with China Economic Times.

Liu Junning, a political scientist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who wrote four of the essays, said in an interview that he hoped that the book would ''create a general atmosphere in which people may widely discuss political reform and possible democratization.''

Wary about provoking Government censors, the publisher and editors have avoided active promotion. But the first printing of 30,000 was unusually large for highbrow books here, and it is selling in many places around the country.

One essay is by Wang Huning, an adviser to President Jiang, that calls for greater separation of government and industry and measures to build the rule of law -- all under the Communist Party's leadership.

The more searching essays explore the implications of limiting the reach of the party, creating a stronger legislature, the benefits of a free press and protection of civil rights. But any suggestions for changing the basic system must be read between the lines.

Mr. Liu calls for a constitutional guarantee of private property rights, part of a broader effort to restrict the role of government.

Xie Qingkui, a political scientist at Beijing University, asks why the country's much-vaunted village elections should not be tried at the township and county levels.